NEW DELHI: All-rounder Dunith Wellalage of Sri Lanka gave an insight into the motivation behind his outstanding batting against India in the first ODI on Friday in Colombo.
Wellalage won Player of the Match at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo for his overall performance. With seven boundaries and two maximums, he amassed an undefeated 67 runs off 65 balls.
In his nine overs, the left-arm spinner gave 39 runs and bowled a maiden over while taking two wickets with the ball.
"They have a lot of experienced bowlers, so the more we can limit our mistakes, the more we can put pressure on them. I was watching Pathum Nissanka bat quite a lot. I put his batting in my mind as I came up with a plan. If you take the pitch, it was one that supported spin bowling. I tried to put as much pressure on the bowler and build partnerships," Wellalage said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo, as per ANI.
It was a whirlwind chase for the Indian squad after reducing Sri Lanka to 230/8. The match finished in a tie despite Rohit's blistering start of 58 in 47 balls with seven fours and three sixes.
